‘If you need me, I’ll be in the bath with my goggles on,’ said my newly minted six-year-old, over the weekend. June is a pretty big month for us around here, but I think life lately can be summed up in that sentence. We celebrate how and where we can. And even though it’s June, the weather has turned October-ish, so socially-distanced cupcakes outside get rained out, or cut short. More on that later. Before Isla’s birthday there was our…
The kid recently asked me if I wished I could walk. And I know we’re supposed to build up suspense in our writing, but I told her no. We’ve talked about disability awareness before, but she’s never asked me this question. I’ll start this by saying I used to be an ambulatory wheelchair user. That is a thing, it’s not some kind of miracle when wheelchair users get out of our chairs. Sit down. Growing up, I would walk in…
I’ve never considered myself a spoonie, but I think I’ve run out of spoons these past few weeks. I thought I’d be riding shotgun today on a trip with a moving van to get the last of our stuff from the house to wherever it’ll fit. Regular readers will know that I love road trips for the music mixes and uninterrupted reading time. But the thing I can’t wait for this time, the thing that gets more like a dream…
It was like a wheelchair slalom course to get to my writing space today. I dodged that packing box over there, went around that Lego, and drove over that random, lone shoe. Ever since I wrote on looking for a house when you’re a wheelchair user, I’ve been waiting to share my tips on moving house when you’re a wheelchair user. Real talk, I’ve moved around a lot. As a family, we’ve lived in two houses in The Frosty North.…
And so, Isla has this thing where she holds doors open for me. I don’t make her do it, she just does. On a recent family road trip, after a coffee run with friends, Isla was there at the door, on her mission. A stranger comes along and pulls the door wider. Isla stumbles back, but not that far, still looking at me. Takes up her space between me, the door, and the stranger. And then the stranger says to…
